


All smiles, I know what it takes to fool this town

by Jade_Pearl



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Lila Rossi Lies, M/M, Marc Anciel & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug are Cousins, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28411401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_Pearl/pseuds/Jade_Pearl
Summary: Can't think of a summary. Basically, in trying to 'teach' Marinette a lesson the 'Akuma Class' makes s terrible mistake.
Relationships: Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg
Comments: 1
Kudos: 100
Collections: MarcNath Fics!





	All smiles, I know what it takes to fool this town

**Author's Note:**

> This, strangely enough, happened because I was listening to Unstoppable by Sia. How or why, I don't know. I wrote this in roughly 12 hours, don't expect much.
> 
> I've never written angst, or hurt/comfort. Let me know how I did. This was a bit of a test run.
> 
> Note: I am not a medical professional. I have some basic first aid knowledge and am drawing on that and personal experiences (mine and others). 
> 
> That's it for now. Please enjoy!

In the months since Lila's return she'd managed to make good on her promise and had turned almost all of Marinette's classmates against her. 

Things had gotten really bad for her a few months ago, and if it hadn't been for Tikki, Luka, Marc and surprisingly, Kagami, well, the world would be short one super heroine. Luka had found her at her lowest and guided her feet back to solid ground. When he'd gotten the full story out of her, saying he was furious would have been an extreme understatement. They were lucky that Tikki had been on lookout, not that Luka knew that. 

When  _ she'd  _ calmed  _ him _ down, and they'd both been stuffed with enough macarons for a mini militia, Luka went home and, with his mother's help, knocked some sense into his little sister. He relayed Marinette's story to them both and before Jules could try to defend her 'friend', Anarka -for lack of a better term- exploded.

She'd used words that night that Luka had never known existed. Much less in the way his mother used them. After ranting for a good twenty minutes, Anarka rounded on her daughter and told her, in no uncertain terms, that her new friend was "a _ lying, good fer nothin', bilge-sucking, hornswoggling, wench! _ " who " _ should've been flogged and keelhauled _ ". When their mother was  _ this _ angry, the Couffaine children knew better than to interrupt her. So Juleka sat there and listened as her mother thoroughly picked apart every one of Lila's lies that she could. She took great joy in debunking the one about Jagged Stone's kitten, stating that as long as she'd known him, Jagged had never owned a cat of any sort, and if he did it was before she met him, at which point Lila would've been too young for the rest of her  _ story _ to have any credibility. She scolded her daughter for getting swept up in the crowd and not checking her facts. Something as simple as asking her about the lass would've saved so much trouble.

Not long after, Juleka, Marc and Luka banded together and managed to convince the other art kids to at least look into Lila's stories. They'd decided outright accusing her of lying wouldn't work very well. The next day Rose, Nathaniel and Alix came and apologized for shutting her out when she'd only tried to help them. She forgave -not easily, but they understood. They didn't do much other than brush her concerns off, still bad, but in comparison to the things the others had done, yeah, lesser evil. 

+=+=+

That had been two months ago, and minus a few incidents of pushing and tripping and a little name calling, her other classmates left her alone. She didn't mind anymore. There were only a few weeks left in this term; less than two months, and she was transferring to a different class for the next term onwards. She also had plans to attend an extremely elite arts school for lycée, so she likely wouldn't have to deal with much or ever in the future. 

She just needed to survive these next few weeks, " _ Which," _ she thought, " _ might be easier said than done". _

She'd been on her way to lunch with Rose, Nath, Chloé (of all people), Juleka and Alix; they were going to meet the others at the cafeteria as they usually did when Lila and her  _ followe _ rs cornered them in the hallway.

"What the fuck, Marinette! How could you?" Alya screaming at her had become so routine by now. 

" _ When did it all change? Why did it all change?" _ She thought. Outwardly she said, "What did I do this time, Alya? Hm? What's she told you about me now?"

"As if you don't know!" Alya scoffed. "I can't believe you'd tear up Lila's portfolio for lycée like that!" 

Marinette took immediate offence to this, as did the other art kids. If it's one thing you never, ever mess with, it's an artist's portfolio. Accusing another artist of such a thing, especially without solid proof, was the peak of insulting. The art kids raged back at Alya's accusation, stating that Marinette would  _ never _ do something like that.

When Alya heard them defending her, she flippantly rolled her eyes and scoffed, but it was Lila that spoke. Meekly as a church mouse, she piped up from behind Kim, "But, hasn't Marinette done stuff like this before? You know-" she made 'vague' gestures in Adrien's general direction, "things, for-for petty.. reasons?" 

Marinette had to hand it to her, that act was almost golden. Give the girl an Academy Award, someone. Marinette glowered at Alya, embarrassed that she'd share something like that but not surprised. Not anymore. 

"While I admit most of my past actions weren't...the best, and I'm by no means trying to excuse them, at least half of those never would have happened if I hadn't been  _ coaxed _ or  _ enabled _ ." She looked Alya directly in the eyes as she said this, making it clear just who she was speaking about. She didn't give her a chance to speak after that, she was hungry and tired of having this argument. She could see her friends forcing their way through their classmates and absently noted the crowd that had gathered due to their noise. 

"Now, I'm hungry. And if you have nothing better to do than make senseless accusations, then I'm leaving." She could tell that they didn't know what to do with her calm visage. They'd likely expected anger and embarrassment, but she was done reacting to them. Distantly, she noted her friends cheering her on. Alix and Rose were particularly loud. She almost missed the perfectly, pathetic noise that Lika had made.

"Oh, Marinette! How could you be so cruel? Without that portfolio I'll never get into Lycée Boudin! Oh, my Nonna attended that school when she was younger and she was so excited to hear I was considering it!" Lila cried. Actually tears were flowing down her cheeks. Give the girl an Academy and Golden Globe award, hell throw an Oscar in. Why not?

Lila's act served its purpose. Marinette's classmates rounded on her faster than she could blink. They began pushing and shoving her around while yelling at her. She could hear her friends and a few other students trying to help her, trying to get them to stop. She didn't understand why their voices had taken on a frantic edge until it was too late. One minute her arm was aching from Alya's tight grip, the next it wasn't. It wasn't until she registered the screaming that she understood.

In their blind rage, the class had backed up to the stair post, dangerously close to the edge. When Nathaniel, who'd ninja'd his way to them noticed this he'd rushed over and yanked Alya's hand off of her and pushed her to safety. Alya, either in rage or confusion, had whipped her arm to the side successfully dislodging Nathaniel. Unfortunately, this placed him directly above the opening of the stairs and the momentum had carried him over. 

+=+=+

Nathaniel didn't really know what he was going to do, just that his friend needed help. He knew people overlooked him, missed in a crowd a lot, so he used it to his advantage. He made his way to the front unobstructed, and arrived just in time to see Alya push Marinette against the stair post. He didn't think about what he did next. He rushed over and pulled Alya off of Marinette while pushing her to safety. He did not expect Alya to whip her arm out so violently, nor did he realize just how close it would put him to the edge of the stairway. He tried to regain his balance to lessen the fall; the momentum would carry him over without a doubt. All he succeeded in doing was twisting himself around just before he hit the steps. He felt unimaginable pain soar up his arms before he flipped and tumbled down. He'd been too dazed to remember to protect his head so he hit it many times on the way down. By the time he landed in the courtyard all he could feel was pain. The last thing he remembers is hearing someone screaming his name before falling into a dark embrace.

+=+=+

"Nathaniel!" Marc. That was Marc screaming. Still dazed, Marinette got up and saw her cousin forcing his way through the crowd of students between the cafeteria and the stairs. Aurore, Mireille and Kagami were with him; Kagami and Aurore were moving people out of the way with their bokken and umbrella, respectively. When they reached the stairs Marc didn't hesitate. He ran down, two, three at a time, anything to make it in time. All the while he still desperately called his boyfriend's name. 

"Oh God, Oh God, baby, please!" He cried over and over as he stared at his boyfriend's prone form, not knowing what to do. He wanted to hold him and cradle him, but he could  _ see _ the broken bones from here and didn't know if moving him would make any of his injuries worse. He began trying to wake Nath up since he wasn't moving, that's when he noticed the blood that was slowly but steadily pooling under Nathaniel's head. "Somebody help! Please, please!" He cried desperately, spurring everyone into action. 

Within seconds the nurse came running into the courtyard, apparently someone had fetched her earlier. She had them all move aside so she could check Nathaniel. He watched as she checked his pulse and breathing and took more of all of his injuries. 

"You'll go with him." Looking to the side he saw Chloé with her phone pressed to her ear staring directly at him. "I've got the ambulance on the way. Don't worry, they say as long as you don't get in their way you'll get to go with him." She then turned and barked more orders at whoever was on the other line. He didn't care. He returned to Nathaniel's side as soon as the nurse was done and asked how he could help.

+=+=+

"What is going on here?!" ' _ Oh finally, now the adults show up? _ ' Was the collective thought process as M. Damocles entered the courtyard, the rest of the staff met far behind. Lila simpered up to the principal already in tears. Marinette could see the moment that he and Mme. Bustier fell under Lila's spell. They rushed to reassure her that, 'of course she wouldn't get in trouble'. It'd be alright. Marinette could feel the indignation and disbelief rolling off of everyone in waves. It became worse when they obviously began trying to find a way to take the blame off of Lila and the rest of the 'Akuma Class'. Distantly, in a corner of her mind, she was amazed that no one had been akumatized yet. It was when they began hunting at getting Nathaniel's family to not press any charges that she really worried. 

"I always knew you were a spineless coward Charles, but I didn't know that you were a blithering idiot on top of it." The courtyard, minus the obvious few, breathed a sigh of relief as a  _ competent  _ adult finally arrived. She and the rest of the staff watched M. Damocles and Mme. Bustier with blatant disgust. On her side, Marc looked ready to commit murder. "Not press charges, not investigate. Do you hear yourself when you speak, or does it all filter out?" She scoffed and turned away from them before they could get their bearings. Taking control of the situation she ordered everyone to remain on school grounds, preferably in their classes since any police that arrived would need witness statements, she got the ETA of the ambulance from Chloé and had those that remained help the nurse ensure that Nathaniel was as prepared as they could safely get him. 

Not even three minutes after that, the ambulance had arrived. The EMTs quickly loaded Nathaniel on to a gurney and into the ambulance. Marc, as promised, was allowed to ride with them. Mme. Mendeleiev efficiently redirected everyone's attention and had them call their parents and inform of the situation, since they would require parental permission to interview the children. 

+=+=+

It was hours later when the art kids, plus Luka, Kagami and all of their parents could make it to the hospital. They were met by Nathaniel's mother, Naomi, and Marc and his moms. The waiting room was briefly filled with words of comfort and reassurance before everyone settled down to wait. Naomi told them that a nurse had given her a rundown of Nathaniel's injuries before asking her permission for a surgery to realign his broken bones. They'd normally have had to wait at least a few hours for that, but since Nathaniel also had a fairly large head injury, they moved him up the priority list. 

It started getting pretty late after a while, those of them that could stay, did while the others asked to be kept updated. A nurse and a doctor entered the waiting room not long after. The doctor was reading something on a clipboard.

"Nathaniel Kurtzberg. Family for Nathaniel Kurtzberg?" The doctor called.

"Oh! Here. I'm his mother. Is he going to be okay?"

"We believe so, yes. He will require a bit of physical therapy for his arm and shoulder to regain full motion but those should be fine. For now he must put as little pressure as possible on them after he's released. His head injury, which we'd been particularly worried about, may lead to a concussion but he'll be staying overnight for monitoring." 

Naomi sagged in relief. Everyone was ready to breathe a sigh of relief with her, but the doctor wasn't finished. "There are a few more things." He said, "We'll be closely monitoring him for any signs of further injury from the fall as well. His collar bone was fractured and he may have some pain after discharge, in addition to that the wrist of his right hand was broken." Marc's blood ran cold at that. He may not know much about injuries and the medical field, but he knew that a broken wrist, especially for an artist, was a probable death sentence. "It's possible for him to regain a range of motion in it." The doctor hurried to assure them when he noticed their expressions. "But the injury will need to be carefully monitored. For right now, it's not certain if he'll regain his finer range of motion, but it is not impossible. He will be taken to a monitoring room for the night, Mme. Kurtzberg you may be allowed in to see your son for a while, but it won't be for long."

"Even a few minutes is enough. Thank you, doctor." The doctor nodded in acknowledgement and promised to send a nurse to receive her later. When the nurse returned a few minutes later, a few of the others decided to leave as well. Only Alix, Marc, his Mom and her Dad remained with Mme. Kurtzberg. They promised to be there when she came back from the monitoring room. Alix and Marc comforted each other as they anxiously waited; knowing that this was only the beginning.

+=+=+

A week later Nathaniel was deemed ready for discharge and everyone couldn't be happier. The joy of leaving was tinged with a bitter undertone. During his recovery the doctor and nurse closely monitored him and declared that with proper rest and physical therapy all of his injuries should heal fine. His wrist, however, was another matter entirely. While they said he  _ would _ regain his range of motion, it would take a long time, and a lot of therapy. It was possibly the best he could hope for.

The art kids had all come to see him off, Kagami and the others were waiting at his house for the welcome home party. Everyone was in a generally good mood, which didn't last long when they entered the parking lot. There they were ambushed by the Akuma Class, who -after having Lila's lies viciously torn apart by the lawyers Chloé had hired for the Kurtzbergs- were deeply remorseful and apologetic. They bombarded them with apologies and requests for forgiveness, giving them no chance to process anything.

"Enough!" Everyone was shocked when Marc yelled. Marinette had never seen him so-so blatantly  _ pissed _ . He glared viciously at his cousin's and boyfriend's classmates, disgust branded on his face. 

"You come here. After everything you've done, and dare to  _ demand _ forgiveness from him." He scoffed. "You finally learn what the  _ entire school _ already knew, and what-? What did you expect coming here, huh? You're sorry?" He sneered as he towered over most of them. "Sorry. Isn't going to change the fact that you bullied my cousin. Sorry! Isn't going to heal Nath's hands! Sorry! Isn't going to make everything magically better! It isn't going to reverse the damage you've caused." His voice, which had risen during his tirade, softened on his last sentence. Before he could start again, he felt a light touch on his arm. Looking down he saw that Naomi had wheeled Nath closer and that Nath had rested his head against him. 

"It isn't worth it, Angel. Just leave it. They're not worth it." Nathaniel looked at them as he said this. 

When Marc looked like wanted to say more, Marinette cut in. "He's right. They're not worth it. Let's just go."

"Marinette!" 

"Dudes please!"

"Come on, guys."

"Look. This doesn't have to be forever. Just-" She sighed, "We just need time. Alright."

They walked past them and left them there. None of them looked back. Officially closing the door on that chapter of their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> No akumas because writing fight scenes is something I'm not confident about yet. So let's just assume good ole Gabe had other things to do, yeah?
> 
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
